8. ‘Let Detroit Go Bankrupt’ by Mitt Romney

Originally published in 2008, Romney’s argument against the auto bailout jumped to the top of the New York Times’s most-viewed list anew this November after it became a bone of contention in one of the presidential debates. Obama said if he’d taken Romney’s advice on the bailout, “we’d be buying cars from China instead of selling cars to China.” Romney then said Obama was mischaracterizing what he had proposed; “you can take a look at the op-ed,” he added. Earlier, Romney had pointed out that he hadn’t written the headline, that people had misunderstood “bankruptcy” for “liquidation,” and that he wished the op-ed had been titled “How To Save Detroit.” He probably wishes that even more now.